Sleep trackers are counterproductive and can lead to insomnia, says the specialist

Tracking your sleep through a smartphone app can make people obsessive and cause insomnia, says a sleep disorder specialist.

The neurologist Dr. Guy Lescziner said that a growing number of patients seeking treatment for insomnia have presented him with data provided by the app on their sleep patterns.

"We have seen many people who have developed significant insomnia as a result of sleep trackers or some readings about the devastating lack of sleep for you," he told the Cheltenham Science Festival Thursday.

Talk to The GuardianDr. Lescinzer, who works as a consultant at Guy's Hospital and St. Thomas Hospital, added that his vision of sleep monitoring was "pretty cynical".

"If you feel tired when you wake up and have a restful night's sleep, then you know you have a problem," he said.

"If you wake up every day and feel refreshed, if you stay awake all day and if you're ready to sleep at the same time each night, you probably sleep enough and you do not need to sleep." 39, an application to inform you. "

The consultant then explained how the need to monitor and badyze our sleep patterns was part of a broader goal of "measuring our lives" using devices such as step meters.

While measuring your steps may be of benefit to you by encouraging you to do more exercise, Dr. Lescinzer says that doing the same for sleep and attaining a "state of obsession" can make it much more difficult to Sleep at night.

According to the Sleep Council, people aged 18 to 65 need an average of seven to nine hours of sleep a night. But the majority of us, it seems, realize much less than that.

A recent study conducted by the organization on the sleeping habits of 5,000 British revealed that 74% of people slept less than seven hours a night. At the same time, more than one in ten (12%) sleep less than five hours a night, up from 7% in 2013.